House orientation in Dallas area... consider the sun please (West: living, deposit)

[pinipig523]

Looking to nail down a lot when looking for a house. I have put a deposit on a N/S (South facing, #8) lot. But there is another lot just around the corner (#14) with a potentially better view but with a E/W orientation (West facing).

Which would you guys thinks is more preferable?

On my lot (#8), I have a 60% view of the pond in front of us. We were thinking of putting the garages on the West side of the lot so as to maximize the view up front (making living/study/dining towards the East of the house).

If we do lot #14, then it doesn't matter where we put the garage, we get a great view regardless. In one of the pictures, you can actually see lot #14, it is 2 lots away from the big french home.

Thanks for the input. Wife and I are liking it here in Dallas area.

[pinipig523]

Btw, #14 is $10K more.

[Rakin]

Any direction but east. East facing homes take the hot west summer sun in the backyards and limit the ability to comfortably use. I understand for some it's a cultural thing but practically it's the least desirable. It does hurt resale. JMO

[sunball]

My personal preference is north-facing. So your family room, kitchen and master bedroom will all face South, which will give you plenty of sunshine but not as much as east-facing. For these two lots, I will choose #8

[blah51]

pinipig523,
I would go with #14. The view and the west facing is worth 10k more. I live right behind those lots.

Good luck

[Dragonfly8]

Still too much afternoon sun with #8 to enjoy your backyard.

#14 would be a better choice.


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[pinipig523]

Originally Posted by Dragonfly8

Still too much afternoon sun with #8 to enjoy your backyard.

#14 would be a better choice.


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I thought the sun comes around south in the afternoon?

Joey

[MckinneyOwnr]

I would choose #14, I think the view will ultimately give you better resale, and your backyard won't have the afternoon sun beating down on it in the evening.

[PlanoGirl]

We have an west facing house, and I love it! The backyard is shaded in the later afternoon/evening, which is the time we would use it most anyway (dinners/bbqs on the patio, kids playing outside, etc). Especially nice for swimming because the pool is nice and warm, but we can swim sunscreen-free (ie. no direct sun on the pool) from about 4:30 pm onwards. A east facing backyard does makes it harder to sit out there in morning with a cup of coffee, but we have some strategically placed trees to give a nice early morning shady spot, and then we use patios umbrellas when necessary (though with your nice view out front...coffee on the front porch in the morning would be ideal). But we also back to a golf course so there is no neighboring house blocking that early morning sun. We do have have a decent sized attached patio cover which gives us a large shady place to sit from about 10am onwards in the summer. We do get some pretty intense light into the family room in the morning...but I just angle the shutters to block that and it's no problem. But we only have one level of windows...if you have the double story window wall on the back of your house, that would be trickier. To be honest, I would probably avoid east/west orientation, if you have a lot of back or front double story window walls like that. That's just asking for high energy bills and a lot of glare. In either case, be sure you consider the best place to put trees to provide shade on the house. My only complaint with the orientation/layout of our house would be that we have a swing drive directly the front of our house, and it makes it harder to get a tree in the best spot to provide good evening shade. That will be even more of an issue for you, as you have in the front what we have in the back...open space, so no neighboring house to block the sun.

My parents have a south facing home here, and get some pretty intense late afternoon/evening sun in the height of the summer due to the sun's higher placement in the sky. So depending on the layout of the backside of your home, that could be an issue. Nothing a few well-placed trees couldn't fix...but trees take time to grow...or lots of money to plant larger ones.

So based on the above, and the fact the #14 has a better view and looks to have a bit bigger backyard, I would go with #14.

[ggolf]

Every house I built in DFW I made sure the back faced north. That way we could sit out on the patio about all year and not get roasted.

Now if the only way you can get a view of the pond it to orient the back to face it even if it's south or west, you can always get an awning. We face a creek to the west, and we got drop down sun screens for our screened porch. Problem solved.